Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday said that fresh projects worth over Rs10,000 crore will be launched and several old projects will be completed during the ongoing Railway Pakhwara (fortnight) programme to mark the first anniversary of Modi Government. Prabhu was speaking at the New Delhi Railway Station premises after signing an MoU with Railways' PSU Concor (Container Corporation of India) for upgrading of passengers amenities at the city station.
The Minister undertook an inspection of a special railway train between Delhi Cantonment Station to New Delhi Railway Station, which had a solar-powered carriage attached to it. "During this 15-day period, new projects worth over Rs10,000 cr will be started or old projects be completed. large- scale cleanliness campaign is also underway...And, our union men as brand ambassadors are also undertaking part in it," Prabhu said.
Railways is celebrating Modi Government's completion of one year in office with a fortnight-long programmes from May 26 to June 9. "Programmes are being undertaken in at least 15,000 places across the country. lakhs of people are being given free medical aid from the Railways. We are taking independent feedback from people on services offered by railways, such as food or hygiene, among others," Prabhu said.
As per the MoU, Concor will undertake upgrading of passenger facility at the New Delhi railway station as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a railway official said. In a separate Press conference, Railway Board Member (Electrical) Navin Tandon said that the railways has kick-started the process to award contracts for high powered electric loco projects at Dankuni unit and the proposed Madhepura factory.
"There will be 200 electric locomotives of 9,000 horsepower (HP) each that are to be produced at its Dankuni unit in West Bengal, "Tandon said. The tender stipulates that 40 locomotives will be imported from Japan, while the rest are to be manufactured in India. "We have also floated global tenders for setting up a modern locomotive factory at Madhepura for manufacturing 800 locos of 12,000 HP each. These will be required in the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor," he said.